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Music

Bring the Noyes: How a Small Rock Label in Nova Scotia Made an International Impact

The East Coast label has been around for 10 years and they're re-releasing some previously out of print records, so we found out how it all started.

Photo Courtesy of Saint Marie Records site

Ten years is a long time to do just about anything in the music business. That might be especially true considering the current landscape of the industry, where the hype machine cycles through artists in seemingly no time at all. Still, while the relative ease with which an artist is able to release music can lead to a saturation of the market and an overwhelming experience for anyone looking for new music, that same democratization of releasing music can benefit smaller artists and labels. Get really good at one thing, deliver a unique or personal experience, and maybe you'll find an audience who keeps coming back for more. That seems to be the ethos that's kept independent Nova Scotia label Noyes Records—who have released albums from VKNGS, Ringo Deathstarr, Ash, and Kestrals—going for the last ten years. Founded back in 2005 by musician and teacher Chad Peck, Noyes Records has spent the last ten years releasing music in DIY fashion, waiting on vinyl pressing plants in order to send out a handful of seven-inch singles and LPs to a loyal following of listeners.

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Noyes got its start when Peck was doing his practice teaching placement at a high school in Nova Scotia. "There was a café where bands would play sometimes. I saw some bands play there and was like, these guys are incredible." Peck was in a band himself at the time, first called Safety Scissors before changing their name to Medium Mood for legal reasons, and the original goal was to release music that would otherwise never see the light of day. In a way, Peck was documenting a scene, which included plenty of hardcore and art-pop bands, and that kind of insularity may have been integral to not only getting Noyes up and running, but also keeping it in business through a myriad of changes in the industry.

Starting a record label is, in some ways, easy enough. That first release, and that second one, can be willed into fruition by sheer love of music, by the thrill that comes with feeling like you're putting something substantial into the world. But what keeps you going after that? And what makes a small label from Nova Scotia stand out? After all, Peck admits that, even ten years on, "the margins are razor thin" for a label like Noyes, especially considering that they largely focus on physical releases. "The first release was silk-screened CD-Rs and the second was CD-Rs as well, but the covers were hand painted. I'm in my 30s, so it's still totally my lifestyle to listen to music on physical… I don't think I'd ever do a totally digital release." In so many ways then, the history of Noyes Records is also the history of the contemporary music industry more generally; to track the ebbs and flows of Noyes Records is to track the ebbs and flows of the music industry, and specifically the rapidity with which the industry has moved to predominantly digital releases.

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Peck's focus on providing the listener with something tactile has been both a burden and a blessing over the years for Noyes Records. On the one hand, many releases have been delayed due to pressing issues. "One time we had a pressing plant shut down because it was too hot in the summer, so they stopped pressing records for two months." Perhaps even worse, Peck tells of the time he had "a band send me the incorrect master, and I didn't find out until the test pressing came back." These are the issues that face any small label, but Peck is insistent that a focus on physical releases, and Noyes' mostly vinyl production, is what's kept the label alive this long. A physical release fosters a sense of intimacy, and a feeling of community; a tactile object lets a listener know that there are actual people behind the production.

The very ethos of DIY, embodied by Noyes Records and Peck, who doesn't shoot for any government funding, is community. Peck gets help wherever he can find it, including bringing Noyes projects into his classroom. "I did this solo record last year called We Need Secrets and I bought 100 blank LP jackets and I had my students design 100 unique covers for it." That's the kind of community building integral to Noyes' success and relative longevity. Such care enforces the connection between artist/label and listener, letting them in on the process and also giving them something unique, something that's personal, in return for their loyalty and, of course, money.

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So how does Peck think of the legacy of Noyes Records as he looks back on ten years in the business? "It's a bit of a local institution, which is cool. I think we helped form a credibility for bands, outside of the punk scene, that were a bit more melodic, or art-pop or something like that. And I think we did a good job launching some bands that went on to bigger labels and bigger success." That success means that Noyes, in 2015, extends beyond the borders of the East Coast. Their roster isn't exclusively Nova Scotia bands or even exclusively Canadian, with Austin, Texas band Ringo Deathstarr being one of the label's biggest successes. More than that though, Noyes now has a reach that many independent labels strive for. "I used to only, basically, sell records in Nova Scotia and now I sell more records out of Canada than I do in Canada."

Photo Courtesy of Noyes Records Facebook

With that reach established, Peck and Noyes are set on digging into the back catalogue for the rest of the year in order to properly celebrate the label's ten-year anniversary. A limited edition compilation cassette, titled Come On, Feel the Noyes, has already been released, and Peck has much more planned, including selling off test presses and releasing new records from Moonsocket and Ringo Deathstarr. It's a busy schedule for someone who also has a full-time gig as an English teacher, but that's the passion necessary for keeping a small label alive in 2015. As Peck says, "the rewards of being a touring musician and running a label are the same; it's meeting people and hearing someone say they love that record, or they love that song. That makes the whole uphill battle worthwhile." In other words, it's all about building a community, and if nothing else, Noyes has accomplished that during its ten-year run.

Kyle Fowle almost made a Noysey pun for this article. Almost. - @kylefowle